1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a central belt lock or buckle for safety belts, especially such belts for pilots and other aviators or for parachute jumpers, for the rapid and at the same releasable connection of several belts which are provided with connection members and which come together at a central point; the lock includes means for securely holding the connection members in place as well as for releasing the latter, with these means being operatively coupled with a manually operable and rotationally operable device, preferably a rotary disk or other rotary member, which is disposed over a central stud in conjunction with which the various movements in the lock occur.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Central belt locks having these general features are known in two types of embodiments, namely on the one hand from U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,376, Palloks issued Sept. 13, 1983, and belonging to the assignee of the present application, and on the other hand from German patent application No. A 22 898 XI/62c and German Auslegeschrift No. 10 02 632, published Oct. 4, 1956. To fulfill their purpose, and in connection therewith for proper handling, all of these heretofore known locks have three positions of their operating devices, namely the positions "fasten", "secured", and "release". All three of these positions can be achieved by operating one and the same manual actuation device; in other words, for "fastening", the person must operate the same device which also serves for setting the positions "secured"and "release". Therefore, errors during operation of such central belt locks cannot be completely precluded; for example, hasty manipulation during urgent use can cause a life-endangering error if after fastening the user forgets to place the lock in the position "secured". The present invention is therefore concerned with the problem of, after the fastening process, reliably assuring that the necessary position "secured" is achieved in central belt locks for safety belts, especially in such belts for pilots and other aviators or for parachute jumpers.
The most common type of actuation of the central belt locks is the manipulation of the operations by rotation of a rotary member and by pressing the disk toward the body of the person. Locks of this type are disclosed by the aforementioned German patent application No. A 22 898 XI/62c and German Auslegeschrift No. 10 02 632. These concern central belt locks having four spring-loaded anchor bolts and securing disks which are held by a guide cross. The locks have a main stud, which is displaceable at right angles to the base plate of the lock housing and acts upon the guide cross as well as the securing disk Mounted to the top of the main stud is a circular rotary member which can not only be rotated in both directions, but can also be pressed into the housing along with the main stud. In this way, the various lock operations can be manipulated.
However, the aforementioned central belt locks are provided only for a certain number of belts having appropriate connection members, and these members can catch at only certain locations on the lock. In contrast, the so-called bell locks pursuant to the previously mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,376 and German Auslegeschrift No. 12 75 875 have the advantage that they can receive more connection members and that the latter can automatically be adjusted in the precise pulling direction. Pursuant to a parallel proposal, the central belt locks of the bell type, i.e. with a circumferential edge bead for catching hook-shaped connection members at any desired location, and with a housing portion which is wobblingly mounted for this purpose, are also provided with a rotary actuation; in other words, these locks also have a rotary disk or other rotary member as a hand grip.
An object of the present invention is to provide a central belt lock of the aforementioned general type, in other words, one with a rotary member, according to which it is not necessary to effect a rotary operation in order to fasten the belts, i.e. in order to insert or hook the connection members into the lock housing so that as a result the rotary member only has to have two positions, namely "secured" and "release". During fastening of the belts these positions should not even come into consideration; instead, for the fastening, a manipulation should be provided which is independent thereof, and which at the same time performs satisfactorily, is structurally simple, and is reliable.